This invention relates to a soil compactor which has a compacting roller adapted to perform a tamping action when drawn over a surface to be compacted, the axis of which roller performs a translatory oscillating motion during the tamping action, and the roller is mounted on a frame to which a drive force for pulling the roller is connected.
Impact compactors are known which consist of a non-cylindrical mass which, when drawn over the ground surface, produces a series of impacts. In operation, when drawn by a tractor, considerable jerk on the tractor is produced by the non-uniform motion of the mass. This jerk force has components in both the vertical and horizontal directions. Methods have been proposed to isolate the tractor from the horizontal component but isolation from the vertical component has remained a problem.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a soil compactor in which such isolation of the vertical component of the jerk force is achieved at a chosen speed of the soil compactor.